Orrin Hatch: “over the last several weeks, we have been debating the increase in the debt ceiling. For the time being, that debate is…”

“over the last several weeks, we have been debating the increase in the debt ceiling. For the time being, that debate is coming to an end. But I would like to address briefly some revisionist fiscal history that we have heard repeated during that debate. We have heard this historical account often over the past decade. You hear it from our friends on the other side whenever the Senate discusses spending policy and tax policy. I have noticed that the arguments boil down to two points. My friend and colleague, the former chairman and ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Grassley, came up with this thumbnail description of this creative historical account. First, all of the ``good'' fiscal history of the 1990s was derived from the partisan tax increase bill of 1993. And second, all of the ``bad'' fiscal history taking place within the past 10 years is because of the bipartisan tax relief plans originally enacted during the last administration and continued under the present administration. You could go one step further and, as a policy premise, refine that thumbnail description to two short sentences. First sentence--lower taxes are bad. Second sentence--higher taxes are good. Not surprisingly, these revisionist historians support higher taxes and higher government spending. And not surprisingly, the revisionists oppose cutting taxes and cutting government spending.…”